- “I have been commanded to fight the people until they declare: ‘There is no god worthy of worship but Allah.’ Whoever declares: ‘There is no god worthy of worship but Allah,’ has secured from me his property and his life, except where the law gives due cause; and his reckoning is with Allah.”
It is a mass-transmitted hadith, as al-Suyuti stated in al-Jami‘ al-Saghir, for it has been reported from a number of the Companions in closely similar wordings.
The first is Abu Hurayrah, through whom it has several routes:
- Al-Zuhri informed me, from ‘Ubayd Allah ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Utbah, from Abu Hurayrah, who said:
“When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, passed away and Abu Bakr succeeded him as caliph, and some of the Arabs fell into disbelief, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said to Abu Bakr: ‘How can you fight the people when the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said’”—and he cited it—“‘?’ Abu Bakr replied: ‘By Allah, I shall certainly fight whoever differentiates between prayer and zakah, for zakah is the right due upon wealth. By Allah, if they withheld from me even a tether-rope which they used to pay to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, I would fight them for withholding it.’ ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab then said: ‘By Allah, it was only when I saw that Allah had made Abu Bakr resolute to fight that I knew it was the truth.’”
It was narrated by al-Bukhari (3/206, 12/232–234, 13/206), Muslim (1/38), Abu Dawud (1/243), al-Nasa’i (2/161), al-Tirmidhi (2/100, Bulaq edition), and Ahmad (1/19, 35, 47–48; 2/423, 528), through several routes from him.
- Also from al-Zuhri, from Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib, from him, with the same wording.
It was narrated by Muslim (1/39) and al-Nasa’i (2/162).
- From al-A‘mash, from Abu Salih, from him.
It was narrated by Muslim, al-Nasa’i, al-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah (2/475).